Achieving A Rich Royal Blue

R

rickmann08

New Member
Hi have a client that wants to have a nice rich royal blue for the background of a box that they will be printing. Unfortunately I told them this could not be achieved in conventional printing. Does any one have any ideas such as may a 5th color PMS overlay? Here is the samples they keep sending me for the look they want:

image


Thanks!
Rick
 
The only one that could help with that is your print provider.

Reflex Blue is a common royal blue - but it's not very dark - but printers can mix inks, so you may be able to achieve it by mixing Reflex Blue with a tiny pigment of black.
But this requires the printers mixing inks, or ordering samples of mixed inks to test for you.

On the other hand your print provider might have a nice mix of the colour you require.

It's always worth inquiring at local printers for any samples they may have printed before.
 
Hi Hankscropio, I agree that Reflex is probably the best way to go and I advised my client that they should asked for actual preproduction samples of the box (no epson proofs) so that they can see the true color direct from the press. I am just afraid because they keep viewing samples of rich blues online and I keep reminding them that online is RGB and printing is CMYK. 2 different mediums when it comes to bright rich vibrant colors.

This is how I explained to them and I hope they understood: I told them to think if the bright orange used for Home Depot. It is nearly impossible to print that bright orange in conventional offset printing without printing the orange as a PMS 021.

I ran into a similar problem when we did a job for the movie Shrek. We had to print 4cp and then come back and hit Shrek and the title with a 5th color of PMS 375 to give it that neon look.

I hope they get it and thanks for the feedback!!
 
Don't forget Reflex Blue requires extra drying time - as it really never dries! It's an Alkali pigment containing cobalt, and this is extremely porous and which causes it to act like little sponges.
 
Oh yeah it does! I have been working in and around art departments of print shops for nearly 20 years (offset and web) and have seen it first hand. Drying, offset you name it! Not only that but I know my press operators would also make us aware of the color shifting during the run. They always hated Reflex Blue and the bright reds.

But what makes me really scared is that these will be printed overseas. Normally on a job like this I would go and do a press check but I don't think the client wants to foot the bill to send me out to China LOL.
 
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